Finding Family
by Fierrokc
Summary: Alicai is not your average troubled teen. Studying music and fighting in Washington state and leaving his family in Georgia, what will he do when the zombie apocalypse comes thundering down on a world filled with mystery? OC, M/M. Pairing undecided.
1. Chapter 1

_I laugh as the lithe form of my sister barrels into my chest, knocking the air out of me. I wrap my arms around her shoulders and hold her tight. I close my eyes and tuck her head under my chin and we stand there soaking in the other's presence. When she pulls back, I smile widely and raise my eyebrow when I notice she got another piercing while I was gone. She had a nose ring and monroe piercing when I left, and now she also has a little stud in her eyebrow._

" _I'm diggin' the piercings, Bambi," I say, chuckling and tugging on my own lip piercings. I have shark bites, an eyebrow ring of my own, three cartilage rings on my right ear, four on my left and an industrial on my left ear as well. I also have a nose ring and surgically sharpened canines, top and bottom._

 _She laughed and stepped back, letting my mom take her place. I kissed her cheek and let her hold me, combing her fingers through my long-ish white hair. She pulled back not long after and smiled at me._

" _I see you adopted a new hairstyle," she said, brushing my hair with her fingers. My hair was now buzzed on the sides and long on top and brushed to one side. I smiled and nodded, looking over her shoulder at my dad and brothers, each of them clad in suits. I smiled, as I knew they had taken the day off of work to come pick me up from the airport with my mom and sister. I hug my brothers and we exchange a few words, 'how are you's and other mundane greetings. I grinned widely at the little girl in my dad's arms and swooped in, pressing a kiss to my youngest sister's forehead. She squealed and pressed her hands to my cheeks and leaning in to smack a wet kiss right on the tip of my nose. I scrunched up my nose and chuckled at her. I hugged my dad, careful of the little girl in my arms and then slung my backpack over my shoulder and grabbed the handle of my suitcase, carrying my luggage and sister as we began to walk to the cars. We gained a few odd looks, we were a rather rag-tag family. My brothers and dad were all businessmen, my sister is a cosmetologist, my mom's a teacher, and I'm a musician. When we got out to the cars, I made the choice of riding with my mom and sisters instead of my dad and brothers. The whole walk out to the car, I endured my youngest sister, Mira, pulling on my lips, trying to get to my canines that still fascinated her, even at age three._

I snapped back to reality, staring out of the window of the tall office building out at the undead city of Atlanta. I frown, wondering what caused me to come back to reality when I hear the clicking of what sounds like...hooves? I cover my mouth and nose with my black 'cowl' (a large strip of fabric that forms a bandana like covering for my mouth and nose), creeping out of the room and quickly arriving on the roof of the building. I creep out onto the thick power lines that connect the city buildings, looking below me and seeing a man in a sheriff's uniform riding a horse. I nearly slap a hand to my forehead. 'How dumb can this guy be?' Rolling my red eyes and sighing, I run across the line to a neighboring building and climb down the fire escape into an abandoned alleyway and peek out, seeing the man climbing into a tank to escape a hoard of walkers. I pull out my walkie-talkie and connect it to the radio in the tank, noticing an asian man in an alleyway slightly ahead of mine, also talking into a walkie talkie, probably to the man inside.

"How much of a dumbass are you, cowboy?" I hiss into the radio, seeing the asian man jump. I sigh and shake my head. "I'm in the alleyway across from you, ballcap." He looks up at me and I raise an eyebrow at him.

"How long have you been there?" He says with wide eyes, and I hear the man in the tank gasp at my voice over the radio.

"Just a few minutes. Anyways, I can clear a way for you, cowboy, if you'll give me about..say, 45 seconds?" I say, looking towards where the tank would be.

"How're you gonna get rid of that many geeks in less than a minute?" the asian man asked incredulously.

"Watch me." At this I put away my radio and climb up the side of the building, and drop onto the top of the tank, getting out a hunting knife and chopping up any walker that comes near me, until the herd is down enough that we could make an escape. I lean down and knock on the top of the tank three times, yelling at him to get out here. A few seconds later the hatch of the tank opens and out comes the sheriff.

"Come on, we gotta go," I say and pull him behind me, to the alley the asian man is hiding in. He looks at me disbelievingly, and nods at us before starting to run and I follow him, pulling the cowboy behind me until we reach an alley with a metal door, that I presume we are going to go through. I kill the two walkers in the alley as the asian dude, 'I really need to find out his name', knock on the door in a specific pattern, before it bursts open and we run inside.

A blonde woman and a black man are staring at us as the cowboy and asian catch their breath, and I pull out a rag from my back pocket and wipe the gore off of my blade, ignoring their suspicious looks. Once my blade is sufficiently clean, I sheathe it and sigh before pulling down my cowl and brushing a hand through my hair. I look around at the others before stretching my arms above my head and yawning, exposing my canines.

I glance over at the sheriff, who has both eyebrows raised, and raise my pierced eyebrow at him. "Yes?"

"Rick Grimes," Is all he says as he sticks his hand out for a handshake. I smirk and grab his hand.

"Alicai Nox," I say, addressing all of them. They introduce themselves as T-Dog, Andrea, and Glenn. Then I turn to Rick. "What the hell were you thinking riding a horse into an undead hot spot?" I ask irritatedly. He frowns and takes a small step back.

"I'm looking for my wife and son, I thought they might be here. I thought there was a shelter here?" He says this defensively, tense and on edge.

"The shelter is nothing but a pipe dream, Rick." He frowns and then shrugs it off, though he still looks thoughtful.

"What's with the piercings and fangs?" This comes from Glenn. I raise an eyebrow at him and answer calmly, though my heart aches slightly at the memory.

"The piercings were a kind of tradition between my sister and I. Every time I came to visit, I would get a new piercing. She only had three though. I'm looking for my family too. My parents, sisters and brothers. The fangs I got because I wanted to. And they're useful sometimes," I say, coughing to try to get rid of the ache in my chest that appears everytime I think of my family. They simply nod and start up a set of stairs. I follow them to a door that comes out into a clothing store. There are walkers pounding against the glass doors. One of them got ahold of a chunk of concrete, and was hitting it against the glass. Suddenly, a loud gunshot echoes from above us. I freeze, and watch as the others run back through the door and up another set of stairs. I follow and we come out onto the roof where a man with a sniper rifle is shooting at the walkers in the street.

Glenn and T-Dog yell at him to stop and he turns around and starts to beat on T-Dog. The others try to stop him, though nothing works until Rick finally gets him off. They chain him to a metal pipe with a pair of handcuffs that I assume came from Rick. I walk over and stand off to the side a little with my arms crossed over my chest, looking over the man they are referring to as 'Merle'. He notices me and apparently has a problem with how I look.

"What's with the get up, pretty boy?" He says with a cocky smirk on his face. I only look at him, unimpressed. I'm wearing black cargo pants tucked into black knee high combat boots with a black v neck t shirt and my black cowl. I also have a pair of fingerless black leather gloves and knives strapped all over my person.

"Oh, so you think I'm pretty, huh?" I say, flashing my fangs at him as I approach him slowly, like a predator approaching its prey. I pull a knife out of my boot and throw it up, catching it and repeating. "You might not think that if I showed you just what my knives can do." I say, catching the knife one more time before throwing it so that it pierces through his shirt, into the thick wood of the floor beneath him, hardly missing his stomach. I smile sweetly as I bend down to pull it out and sheathe it again. He looks at me, slightly wide eyed before he recovers and glares at me. I look over at the others and see their shocked and slightly scared looks. I sigh and adopt a non-threatening posture as I turn to the others.

"Sorry 'bout that. I get irritated easily." I walk over to the edge of the building and climb up to stand on the small ledge, looking out over the city, taking deep, calming breaths. I hear the other's discussion on what to do about the herd that is trying to break in, and hear Glenn mention what I did to the herd of walkers surrounding the tank. They all turn to me and I look over my shoulder at them questioningly.

"Do you think you could do what you did earlier to get Rick out of the tank?" Glenn asks me and I think for a moment before nodding and turning to start walking on the edge, doing small spins and turns out of boredom.

"I could do that. Do you have get away cars?" They shake their heads. "Someone, probably Glenn and Rick should go get a large one and a small one to distract the walkers with so that I can gank them. That way, the one with the large one can come get the others while the one in the little car can help me by distracting the walkers." They look surprised, apparently they didn't think of that. They get into a small huddle and I ignore them, doing a handstand on the slim ledge. One of them notices and gasps, drawing the attention of the others and I quickly flip off of the ledge before one of them makes me fall. Rick and Glenn leave soon after to get the cars and I wait on the top of the building while the others go down to get the supplies together and wait by the large back doors for Rick to come by and pick them up. I pull my cowl back up and wait for the signal. I make sure to lock the door so that no walkers will be able to get to Merle and perch on the edge again. He's an annoying bastard, but I wouldn't wish that fate on my worst enemies.

When I hear the loud blaring of a car alarm I climb down the building by way of fire escape and begin killing the walkers by stabbing them in the brain. When the large van goes by me I jump onto the side, grabbing the locked door handle, and killing the walkers that get too close. When we get far enough from the city, Rick stops the box truck and lets me get in. I sit and clean my blades until we get into the mountains, following the small red mustang that Glenn used to distract the walkers.

"Who's all in your guy's group?" I ask Andrea and T-Dog who're sitting in the back with all of the supplies they gathered.

"There's a couple families, just people who needed to band together to save their families." Andrea replies. I nod and sit silently, thinking about my youngest sister. She would have turned 4 today. I have a small charm that she gave me around my neck on a silver chain. It's a tiny silver microphone. I finger the ring in my eyebrow. All of my piercings are black so that they stand out, but the one in my eyebrow was a gift from my older sister. it's black with a small white stripe running down the middle.

"What were your siblings like?" I hear Andrea ask me quietly. I smile and chuckle a little bit.

"I had two brothers and two sisters. My brothers were both older than me and they were businessmen. They liked to joke around and we would wrestle when we were little. My older sister was always so sweet, but we had our fights. We were super close, we did most things together. My younger sister was close to me too. She liked to play with my piercings and was fascinated with my teeth. She would be turning four today.." I trail off with a sad smile. "I went to school in Washington state, studying music, so I wasn't home when the world went to hell. I traveled from Washington to here, just to find my family." By then we were approaching the camp, and I saw people walking around and then when we pulled up, they all stopped what they were doing and approached the vans. I got out and walked around to the front of the van, getting suspicious looks from everyone. I even saw a woman with short gray hair pull her daughter back when she took in my appearance. Rick was standing next to me, also looking around the camp when he froze and tensed. I looked where he was looking and saw a thin woman with long brown hair standing next to a young boy with short brown hair and blue eyes. He started to run towards them shouting 'Lori' and 'Carl'. I assumed this was his family and I felt happy for him, but also envious because I ached to see my brothers and sisters and parents, just to know that they were safe. I was lost in thought until I heard someone say my name. I looked up to see Glen standing in front of me with a older man in a hawaiian print shirt. I stood up straight and held out my hand. The man introduced himself as Dale. I introduced myself too and looked around camp again.

All of a sudden I saw a small girl run out from behind a tent with a lithe woman chasing after her playfully and I felt like the wind was knocked out of me.

"Bambi?"


	2. Chapter 2

p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The woman frowned and looked at me before her eyes widened and she started walking towards me, picking up speed as she got closer. "BAMBI!" I shouted and sprinted to her and picked her up, spinning her around. I crushed her to my chest, tears flowing down my cheeks as she wrapped her arms around me and sobbed into my chest. "Bambi...Oh, Bambi, you're safe..Thank God…" I whispered and let the tears streak down my cheeks. We just stood there for a while before I felt something pulling on my pant leg and I pulled back. I looked down to see my youngest sister, and I let go of Bambi and squatted down, cupping her face in my hands. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong id="docs-internal-guid-57033c8a-80be-4c76-b2f6-8c73b8fca625" style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Kai?" she asked with a puzzled frown on her face. I laughed and gave her a watery smile and I nodded. "Why are you sad?" She asked me, looking as if this was the mystery of the year. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm not sad, Mi. I'm just so happy to have found you again." I say and pull her to my chest. I sit there for a while until she pulls back a little bit, and puts her hands on my cheeks, pressing down, leaning up to land a wet kiss on my nose. I laugh and pull her back into a hug. Hearing footsteps approaching us, I pick her up and wrap an arm around Bambi's shoulders, pulling her to my side and she wraps an arm around my waist. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Are these your sisters, Alicai?" Its Andrea. I nod. She smiles and points out over the large lake that is just a little ways away. "In that case, your brothers are here too. They are down on the lake fishing," she says and turns to the blonde woman next to her who I assume is her sister. I look at Bambi and she nods, a wide smile on her lips. I start running down to the lake, too excited to walk. When I get to the shore, I see a small boat out on the water with two figure seated in it. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Brent! Bo!" I shout and they look over, before one of them, probably Bo, stands and shouts at me. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alicai?!"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah!" /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The figure sits down before they grab the oars and start to row frantically and as soon as they get to a point that they can stand in the water easily, they jump out of the boat and pull it to shore as quickly as they can. As soon as the boat is on land they let go and sprint towards me, tackling me to the sand. I laugh and hug them tightly. I'm overjoyed to see them and I let them get up before hopping up and hugging them again. We sat on the beach and just talked a little before I finally realized something. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Where's mom and dad?" I ask quietly, a pensive frown on my face. They suddenly grew quiet. "Guys?" I ask, now worried, "What? What happened?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;" /p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Brent, the oldest, cleared his throat before saying in a tight voice, "Mom and dad didn't make it. They were at the house when they found out and Dad got so scared that he killed mom before shooting himself in the head."/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The cold hand of grief gripped my heart and tears once again filled my eyes before spilling over and slipping down my cheeks. I sat there in shock for a few moments before sobs wracked my form and I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, burying my head into my knees. I felt the warm arms of my brothers wrap around me. I snuggled into their arms and soaked in the warmth, even though it was boiling hot outside./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A while later when I calmed down a little bit, I walked back to camp and left my brothers to finish whatever it was they were doing. When I got there I went over to Dale who was talking to Glenn. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sorry, I took off earlier. I've been looking for my family since this whole thing started," I state apologetically. He just nods and smiles at me and excuses Glenn. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""That's perfectly fine, I understand. Is there anything in particular that you're good at?" he asks with one eyebrow raised. I nod and take out one of my knives. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm good with knives and fighting, sneaking, hunting, childcare, and cooking?" I suggest. He nods and is quiet for a second as he thinks something over. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How good with knives?" He asks eyeing the sheathes that are visible. I look around for a second before seeing a tree about 35 yards away and point it out to Dale who nods. I launch the knife at it, and it buries itself deep into the bark. I jog over to it and yank it out, sheathing it and jogging back. He stares at me with wide eyes. "Fighting?"/span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I've been fighting since I was 3, sneaking since I could walk, hunting for a good 10 years, and cooking since I was about 12. I've had to take care of my younger sister more times than I could count. I also do gymnastics and took my team to state where we won." /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What aren't you good at, Alicai?" He asks incredulously. I stop and think for a moment. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm not very good at keeping my temper in check or sympathizing with people," I say quietly, remembering the events that took place on the rooftop in Atlanta with Merle. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Well, as long as you don't cause any injuries, I don't think it'll be a problem. You demonstrate your cooking skills tonight for dinner, if you'd like," He suggests. I nod in agreement and walk off to find my sisters. I find them with Rick's wife and the woman who warned her daughter away from me. They are watching the kids play and talking. They stop as soon as I get near. I ignore it and look around the clearing for a chunk of wood. I find a good one and sit down next to my sister and begin to carve the wood with my smallest knife. They watch me for a while before returning to their conversation, though they cast nervous glances my way occasionally. 'I guess being a new unknown guy who can use knives makes me a bad guy.' I begin humming /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Gone Without Goodbye /spanspan style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"by Brian Littrell, one of my favorite songs. Most people wouldn't think that I'd be into that style of music because of my appearance, but I guess I'm just weird. When I get halfway through the song, I'm so absorbed in my carving that I don't notice when I start to sing the words out loud. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""For I can feel the pain, look into his eyes, but I don't know gone without goodbye." I sing softly and I notice that they stop talking, but I ignore it in favor of focusing on my project. "If I could reach the sky, I'd bring her right back to your arms, though I haven't seen your girl, she's forever in my life." I could feel their eyes boring into the top of my head, and I finally looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What?" I say cluelessly, not sure what they wanted. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You have a beautiful voice," This comes from Lori, Rick's wife. I blushed as I realized that I had been singing out loud. I gave her a small smile./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thank you," I say quietly. I bite my lip and tug on the rings that are there. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How long have you been singing?" She asks me, fiddling with the chain of her necklace. I smile as I remember all the times that I would just blast music and belt out the lyrics to songs./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Since I was little. I've always really loved music," I say, "You're Rick's wife, Lori? Right?" I say, sure I have the right name, but wanting to check just in case I was wrong. She nods and I smile. I turn when I hear leaves crunching behind me under little feet. I see Mira running towards me at full speed. When she's about two feet away, she launches herself at me and squeals. I quickly sheath my knife and catch her, throwing her up and catching her again before setting her down in my lap, smiling and kissing her on the forehead. She giggles and reaches up to pull my face down and kiss my forehead too. I laugh and lightly tap her nose. She scrunches her nose up and puts her hands on my lips, pushing them apart to look at my teeth. I sigh and let her, as long as she doesn't try to put her hands in my mouth, it's fine. I get an idea and smirk before fake growling at her and baring my fangs playfully as I tickle her. She squeals and shrieks in laughter as I tickle her. I hear laughing that is definitely not coming from Mira and look up to see the other ladies laughing. I smile and let go of Mira, who grabs my hand and tells me to come play with her. I get up and follow her and let her lead me to a patch of yellow dandelions. She runs around picking a bunch of the yellow flowers after telling me to stay there. Then she runs back to me and begins threading the flowers into my hair. I chuckle and let her, sitting still until she declares that she's finished. Then I get up and head back to the ladies to finish my carving. They laugh at me when they see the flowers in my hair, but I just smile and sit down./span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;" A little bit later, I hear a scream and the ladies and I spring up and run to where the scream came from and see Carl and a younger girl standing away from a walker who's munching on a deer that has an arrow buried in it's head. I frown and move forward with a knife in hand to stab it, but before I can, it falls down dead with an arrow in it's skull. I look up when I hear the bushes directly in front of me begin to shake and rattle as I figure makes it's way through. I get ready to kill something when a lithely muscled man walks out of the bushes with a crossbow in his hands. I remain in my defensive position as he walks up to the walker and yanks the arrow out before kicking it and cursing. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Stupid walker got to my kill!" he shouts and walks over to the deer and yanking the arrow out. By now the other guys have arrived on the scene, and are gathered around us. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Do you think we could just cut around the part it gnawed on?" a man with dark hair and eyes that is standing next to Rick suggests. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I wouldn't risk it," I say, shaking my head. He looks at me and frowns. I see how his eyes flicker up to my hair and automatically labels me as someone who isn't a threat. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""And who are you?" He says haughtily. I roll my eyes and sheath my knife, standing up straight. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alicai Nox. Brent, Bo, Mira, and Bambi's brother." I say and hold out a hand that he rudely ignores. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Shane." He says. I can tell that he thinks that I'm not dangerous. I start to get irritated. "Who's Bambi?" He asks me with a cockily raised eyebrow. I point at my older sister. "You mean Taylor?" I nod and he rolls his eyes. "Why do you call her Bambi?" /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""It's just a nickname that I gave her when I was little and it stuck." I say as I shrug my shoulders. I frown and walk up to him, irritated at the way he writes me off as though I couldn't hurt him. " I say we don't try to eat the deer. Did you get any other kind of meat?" I ask the man with the crossbow, assuming he's the hunter of the group. He nods. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Yeah, I got some squirrels. It's not much to work with, but it should be enough for the group. The name's Daryl Dixon," He says and offers his hand, which I shake. "Why do you care how much meat I got?" He asks curiously. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Alicai Nox, and I'm in in charge of cooking tonight. I wanted to know what I've got to work with so I can cook it right." He nods and starts walking back to the camp. I follow him, as it's probably about time to start preparing dinner for the camp. When we get back I walk over to the RV and get a small metal bowl, then go to a small table outside and ask Daryl to help me get the squirrels skinned and ready to be cooked. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""D'ya know how to skin a squirrel, flower boy?" He says with an eyebrow raised. I frown for a moment at the name before remembering the flowers still threaded into my hair. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""My knives aren't just for show," I say and pull out a smaller one, but not the smallest that I had on me. I grab a squirrel and begin expertly skinning and gutting it. Daryl watches for a moment before skinning a squirrel too. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Not long after that, we finish preparing the meat and I ask if he would like to help me with the rest. He agrees and we start to chat idly. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What's the story behind your arrival? I'm pretty sure you weren't here when I left earlier." He asks. I shrug my shoulders and begin telling the story of how I found my siblings. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I was going to school up in Washington, and then I heard about the whole world going to shit and traveled from there to here, where I stumbled across a few of yours doing a supply run in the city and I helped them get out. I came back to camp and discovered that my siblings were here and that my parents were dead." I say, a pang going through my chest again. He's silent for a little bit before he continues with the questions. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""How come you look so different? I mean, your sisters both have brown hair and your brothers both have blonde hair, and they all have blue eyes, yet you have white hair and red eyes. Your build is different from theirs too.." He trailed off. I sighed, this was a question that I got a lot. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""My mom and dad adopted me when they went to Germany on vacation and found me half dead from starvation on the side of the road. They took me to the hospital and adopted me when my guardians were found inadequate. I was nine then, so I still speak German and sometimes I slip into the language on accident," I say softly with a small smile at the memory. It was one of the happiest days of his life when his parents asked him if he wanted them to adopt him. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Daryl was quiet for a while, before he began telling his own story of how he and his brother were mistreated by their father and often had too little food. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"strong style="font-weight: normal;" /strong/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Soon, dinner was done and I carried a large pot of squirrel stew out to where everyone had gathered to eat. There were two fires for some reason, most of the camp gathered around the larger one, while the woman who had told her daughter to stay away from me and her husband and daughter at the other one. I was sitting by the fire after I had finished eating and received many compliments on my cooking and letting Mira pull the flowers out of my hair and play with my earrings. There was a small commotion at the other fire when the husband, Ed, tried to make the fire bigger and Rick went over to tell him not to. They got in a small scuffle. Glenn was telling everyone how I had killed a ton of walkers to get Rick out of the tank and people were looking at me in disbelief. Especially Shane. /span/p  
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"br /span style="font-size: 14.6667px; font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; background-color: transparent;""You're telling me that flower boy over there killed half a herd of walkers in less than a minute? No way, he's too delicate for that." He proclaimed loudly. My brothers and older sister were trying to get him to shut up and I started taking deep breaths to try and calm down. But he just kept going on and on about how there was no possible way that I could kill that many walkers because I was so small and let my sister put flowers in my hair. Finally, I had enough. I handed Mira to Bambi and stood up, drawing Shane's attention. I gave him a dark look that had most of the group flinching. I walked over to him slowly, taking measured steps and pulling my cowl up to cover my mouth and nose. When I was about five feet from him, I broke out in a sprint and flipped over him, pulling out one of my knives and landing behind him before turning around and grabbing him in a way that he couldn't get away before I could hurt him and putting the blade against his throat. /span/p 


	3. Chapter 3

"You wanna say that again?" I hissed loud enough that everyone could hear. He was tense and was trying to push his neck away from the blade, but I didn't let him. I saw Rick and Daryl moving around to try to get me off of him without injuring Shane. "Rick, Daryl, sit down. I wanna hear what Großmaul here has to say," I growl, ignoring the puzzled looks.

"Großmaul means loud mouth," Bambi piped up from across the fire, sipping her water as if nothing was happening. Bambi was my translator and the one who taught me English when my parents adopted me. She had always loved various languages and German was one of the first ones she learned.

"So, still think I'm defenseless?" I hissed so that only Shane could hear. "Would you like to apologise or should I carve a smile into your neck?" I spat, knowing that the others could hear this, and not caring that they would most likely think I was insane. "Sie haben drei Sekunden, um zu entschuldigen, oder erfahren Sie, wie genau meine scharfen Messer sind." I growl. The others look to Bambi for a translation.

"He said you have three seconds to apologise, or you'll learn exactly how sharp his knives are." She replied and the others blanched and hoped with all that they were worth that Shane apologised.

"Ein," I hiss and hear Bambi say 'one' so that the others know what I mean. "Zwei," I growl, and when I take a breath to say the last number and seal Shane's fate, he frantically starts apologising. "I'm sorry, I'm afreid I deedn't hear zhat?" I say, my accent thick because of my anger.

"I'm sorry I regarded you as if you were defenseless, and I'm sorry that I insulted you by saying you were incapable of killing a bunch of walkers," He ground out. I held for a second before pulling away and sheathing the knife. I looked out over the group and felt a pang in my heart as I realized they all thought that I was too dangerous.

"I'm going to sleep," I say and walk to the woods, climbing up in a tall tree and seating myself in the 'nest' that the branches formed. I pulled my cowl up over my face and snuggled into the tree, falling into a light sleep that I could snap out of at the first sign of danger. I woke slightly when I noticed that someone was behind a tree not far away, watching me. This hurt. I knew that someone was watching me because they didn't trust me. I let it go and went back to sleep. I woke up often, staying up for a while and falling back asleep. When I woke in the morning, it was to Mira at the base of my tree, yelling at me to get up because Dale wanted me. I yawned and stretched, hopping down and scooping her up, putting her on my shoulders and listening as she told me about a dream she had last night that featured a princess made out of fire.

When we reached the main camp, I walked to Dale and the others moved out of my way when I approached and everyone but my family was giving me scared looks. I looked down and kept my cowl up over my mouth and nose to hide my blush because I was ashamed of my outburst last night. When I reached him, he was talking to Rick, who mentioned that he left a bag of guns in the city and that they needed to go back and get them. While I waited for them to finish their conversation, I pulled a pair of stretchy black sleeves from one of my pockets and slid them onto my forearms. They covered from my wrists to my elbows, leaving just part of my upper arm exposed. My cowl was up, I had the same clothes from yesterday on, and I had cloth over my forearms. My hair was a mess, I needed to find a pair of electric clippers and cut it again. I brushed my fingers through it, fixing it as best as I could. A few minutes later, Rick walked away and Dale turned to me. He looked at me concerned, noticing the slight bags under my eyes because I didn't get much sleep last night. I yawn and rub one of my eyes, wondering what it is that he wanted.

"Are you feeling okay, Alicai?" He asked me softly, I glared at the ground and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Not like you would care anyways. Everyone's scared of me now. I told you that I have trouble controlling my temper and I didn't mean to go that far. I didn't even realize what I was doing until I pulled back!" I said, feeling tears of frustration start to well up in my eyes. 'For such a feared person, I sure can act like a child sometimes.' I tensed as I felt arms wrap around me and looked up to see that it was Dale who was hugging me. His hug reminded me of my father and it was like a dam broke. I wrapped my arms around Dale and let him lead me into the RV and I sat down with him. He let me cry on his shoulder until I calmed down. When I was calm enough, I pulled back and wiped my eyes.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "Do you know any way that I can get them to trust me again? I don't want them to be scared of me, I just wanted Shane to stop ridiculing me. Most of my life, I've been judged because I'm younger than the people I went to school with and they thought that I was weaker. I was never able to stand it, and I just made myself more of an outcast when I fought back." I say, looking at the floor.

"Alicai, they're just afraid of you because they don't understand you. If you want them to trust you, then spend time with them, and try to keep an open heart. Just be yourself. You seem like a wonderful person, but you won't let them see that." He said, and put a hand on my shoulder. "How old are you, Alicai?" He asked me. I looked up at him with pained eyes.

"I'm 15," I whisper. I flinch when he lets out a small gasp. I look a little older than fifteen when I have my cowl on, but with it off, I look even younger. I have more muscle than most 15 year olds, but then again, most 15 year olds don't know how to throw knives and fight.

"Just show them who you are, easy as that." He said and told me that I would be helping the ladies with the laundry today. I nodded and walked outside where I saw my sister walking with Andrea, carrying a basket of laundry. I jogged over to her, cowl still on, and smiled at her.

"I've been told to help with the laundry today," I say and offer to carry the basket for her and she hands it to me. We walk down to the lake where the washing takes place and joke and laugh, beginning to get comfortable with the women. When we get down there, the other women stop what they're doing and stare at me. I sigh as I know I've got some explaining to do.

"I'm sorry about what happened last night by the fire, sometimes I have difficulty controlling my temper, especially when someone thinks I'm weaker than them. Last night won't be happening again anytime soon." I say and look down, expecting to be rejected.

"Oh, honey, it's okay." This comes from a woman named Jacqui. She smiles at me as I look at her with wide eyes, and I look around to see the others nodding in agreement.

"Really?" I ask disbelievingly. I'm sure this is a trick, there's no way they would just forgive me like that.

"Yes! Everyone loses their temper every now and then. It was probably a stressful day for you, and you saved Glenn, Andrea and T-Dog," she says and pats the ground next to her. I go and sit next to her, putting the basket where she tells me to. She hands me a washboard and I thank her and grab a shirt and hold it out in front of me not really sure what I was supposed to do. I'd only ever done laundry with a washing machine before. I look over to Jacqui when I hear her chuckle, and I blush, though I know she can't see it beneath my cowl.

"I don't know how to do this…." I say and comb a hand through my hair out of habit. She grabs a shirt from the basket and shows me how to wash it with the washboard and I listen and copy her, getting it down after a few tries. We talk and laugh for a while before they get onto the topic of things that they miss. It goes pretty smoothly until Andrea smirks evilly at me.

"I miss my vibrator," she says, smirking at me, thinking that I'm going to get embarrassed. Boy is she in for a surprise. I laugh and blush.

"Me too," I say, and they stare at me in shock. "What? Is there something in my hair?" I say and look at my reflection in the water and comb it with my fingers jokingly.

"You had a vibrator?" Andrea asks me. I nod and smile at her.

"I had a boyfriend too. He was mighty fine when armed with a vibrator," I say, blushing heavily. They laugh at me and interrogate me about him.

"What was he like?" "Was he hot?" They ask.

"He was so sweet to me, but was still good in bed. He was gorgeous, and always knew just what to say when I was down." I sigh wistfully. He was killed in front of me, taken down by a herd of walkers. He was going to come with me to find my family. They don't ask what happened to him and I'm grateful for that, but they do continue to tease me about the vibrator remark. We laugh and talk until Ed comes over and gets in our business. I pull down my cowl and keep an eye on him.

"Sounds like you're doin' more talkin' than workin'" He says and takes a puff of his cigarette. I look over my shoulder at him, noting the way that Carol immediately stops laughing.

"What's it to you?" I say, giving him a deathly glare.

"I just think that little fairies who do women's work should keep their mouths shut," He says and I stand up, positioning myself protectively in front of the others.

"Well that's funny, because I think that guys who think they're above women should open their eyes and shut the hell up, stechen." I snap and hear Bambi translate that for the others.

"He called him a prick."

Ed comes towards me and gets up into my face, sneering at me. "You'll learn your place," He says and goes past me to grab Carol, gripping her arm so hard that it's sure to leave a bruise.

"Hey! Let go of her, you bastard!" shouts Andrea. Ed back hands her and tries to storm away with Carol. I move in front of him and push the tip of one of my knives against his throat.

"One little jab, and you're gone. It that what you want, Schwein?" I say threateningly. He shakes his head. When I back off, he lunges at me and I throw him to the ground and snarling at him, baring my teeth, before beginning to punch him. Anyone who would hurt someone they promised to love is disgusting to me. Especially considering my past. Only when I feel hands pulling me off do I realize how bloodied Ed's face is. I stand up and turn around, taking a deep breath. I walk over to the water and push my cowl back up before sitting by the edge and looking at my reflection in its glassy surface. I push my cowl up again and sit back, laying down and closing my eyes, slowly calming down. I hear the ladies sit around me, returning to their work and I join a few minutes after. We're quiet for a little bit before the talk slowly resumes.

"How old are you, Alicai?" Carol asks me. Maybe she's noticed that I look a lot younger without my cowl or the way that I react strongly to nearly everything. I look at her and smile a little.

"Guess," I say, wondering how old I look.

"Take off your cowl so that I can guess accurately," she says in return. I smile and pull the cowl down off my nose and mouth.

"Hmm. 17?" She asks. I shake my head and smile, turning to Jacqui and gesturing for her to guess.

"14?" I smile at that and shake my head again.

"I'm 15," I say chuckling at their surprised looks.

"15 and you can fight that well?" Jacqui asks. I nod.

"I've been fighting for most of my life. Knives were just a hobby for me. I also do gymnastics, I can cook, clean and know how to take care of a baby." They give me shocked looks, and I realize I'm probably going to be working with them until I get the camp's trust back. I go back to washing and we go back to talking about nothing in particular until we finish. Then we go up and I watch the kids with Carol, Lori, and Bambi. They start to play hide and seek and ask me if I want to play. I agree, obviously, and they decide that Carl is going to seek while the rest of us hide. I climb up into a tree and pull my cowl back over my face. I lay down on my stomach on a branch that's easy to see and looked down at the ground, waiting to be found. I know that the ladies can see me from where they are and they laugh at me.

The branch I chose was thick and seemed pretty sturdy to me. I was about ten feet off the ground, looking down. I saw Carl get close to my position and I started quietly chuckling. Loud enough that he would hear me if he passed underneath, but he couldn't hear me unless he was directly under me. I watched him get closer, and suddenly had a feeling that something was going to happen, so I kept a close eye on our surroundings. I looked down at Carl who was looking around him, trying to find the source of the chuckling and I start to laugh louder. He looks and points triumphantly at me.

"Ha! I found you!" He says and starts walking away to find the others. I freeze when I hear a snap and a few seconds later, I'm falling. I let out a small yelp and Carl jumps back. I land hard and struggle to get air back into my lungs. We hear a loud scream echo out from the camp and I scramble to get up, though I fall back down, searing pain racing through my chest. I cough and start to stumble back to camp where a chorus of screams echo over the mountains. 'Walkers. '

Thank you for the follows and I hope you are enjoying this story. Thank you XLady-ZoZo-The-Pict-PrincessX and lynn2008 for following this story.

The next chapter will be up as soon as I finish writing it :)

~KC


	4. Important Author's Note

This is just an Author's note, but I wanted to tell the wonderful people who follow me that I am going to rewrite this story over spring break (hopefully). So, yeah...

Thanks for following me and this will be edited completely by next Friday.

~KC


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